BARGARH : Two B-Tech students of VSS University of Technology (VSSUT), Burla who developed a low-cost breast cancer early screening device prototype, have bagged the prestigious BIRAC Innovation Challenge for their innovation, leaving behind scores of scientists, researchers and industry experts. The device, specially meant for rural India where specialised healthcare is either unavailable or unaffordable, brings hope to women even as latest studies project an extremely gloomy scenario for the dreaded disease in the country. Breast cancer is dominant among other forms of cancer in women and claims over 70,000 lives annually, while survival rate is about 30 per cent.
According to a research paper by National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research-Indian Council of Medical Research (NICPR-ICMR), the share of cancer diagnoses is higher in women than men in India whereas globally the pattern is just the opposite. In a scenario where early detection is the only option, the project by the two VSSUT students Bodhisattwa Sanghapriya and Om Prakash shows light. The prototype the duo have developed is phone-based and can detect breast cancer at a very early stage.
Bodhisattwa and Om Prakash are currently leading the Innovation Cell and Entrepreneurship Cell of VSSUT respectively. On Tuesday, Union Minister of Science and Technology Harsh Vardhan handed over BIRAC Innovation Challenge Award to the duo at India Habitat Centre in New Delhi. The students will receive a grant of Rs15 lakh to take their project to a product stage by Bodhisattwa’s start-up company ‘Invent Grid’. Then they can compete for a `50 lakh prize money for a subsequent stage of the challenge.
BIRAC Innovation Challenge Award, a national competition of the Central Government, aims at propelling Indian innovators towards combating the challenges of community health sector. It is designed to offer financial support to technology innovators and entrepreneurs who have been working in this direction. The Department of Biotechnology had organised the competition seven months back and received thousands of applications from across the country.
After several rounds, the VSSUT team was declared as the winner. Talking to ‘Express,’ Bodhisattwa said they are planning to launch the device in next six months to address the global challenge of breast cancer. Despite being from engineering background, he said, they are working on healthcare technology to bring low-cost medical devices for economically poor people and make healthcare affordable for all.